There's a lot of news coming out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, but since we can't compete with the well-funded gadget blogs, I suggest you read up on the details at The Verge (or Engadget). One thing stood out to me, though. While the entire industry is moving towards more cores, more megapixels, more gigahertz, more display inches - Microsoft is doing the exact opposite. Windows Phone has been updated and optimised to run on slower hardware.

This isn't about tuning WP7 to be able to run on less powerful hardware. This is about bringing down the cost of the phones so they can gain market share. Microsoft has compromised its priciples to gain market share and it will come back to bite them in the ~!@#$. One of the big reasons Android has been given a black eye is the flood of marginal hardware phones available with Android. You can get a higher spec phone that runs great but many opt for cheap then complain about the experience. When people start buying cheap WP7 phones and have a less than steller experience it will impact the reputation of WP7 and Microsoft will have an even harder time keeping/expanding their footprint in the market.